I am embarrassed to admit that I became hooked last season on the TV show Smash, the much-hyped, Steven Spielberg executive-produced nighttime soap opera about a new musical biography of Marilyn Monroe slowly lurching its way towards a Broadway opening. If the title sounds familiar, maybe you are familiar with Garson (Born Yesterday) Kanin’s 1980 novel of the same name about a … [Read more...]
Postcard from New York No. 1: A Saturday doubleheader
I am up in New York for a week to take a bite of the Broadway season, 12 shows in nine days. Ah, the sacrifices I make for the sake of my readers. By most accounts, it is a dismal year for musicals, with lots of screen-to-stage transfers, but little inspiration in the bunch and certainly no Book of Mormon -- still the hottest ticket in town a year later -- among them. We'll … [Read more...]